There was only one problem: None of these candidates wanted the nomination. Neither did the other “draft” candidates
who received support on the Americans Elect Web site, including Jon
Huntsman, Ron Paul, Howard Dean, Donald Trump, Al Gore, Sarah Palin and
David Petraeus.

Americans Elect had taken care of just about everything a third-party
candidate would need. It spent about $35 million on marketing,
technology and ballot access. As of Tuesday it had won a place on the
November ballot in 28 states
(and it still expects to be on the ballot in all 50 by Aug. 1). It had
attracted 3.5 million people to its Web site. But what it couldn’t — or
hasn’t yet been able to — do is persuade a plausible candidate to submit
himself or herself to the ravages of a presidential run.

“We’ve had hundreds of [candidate] briefings,” Kahlil Byrd, the
group’s chief executive, told me on Tuesday. “We have met with current
and former governors, current and former senators, university
presidents, think tanks, mayors of large cities and people who have been
running Fortune 300 companies.”

But the main objection Byrd
heard from these would-be candidates: “Do I want to put myself and my
family through what it takes?” Looking at the prospect of running, Byrd
said, candidates saw only negative ads and attack politics. Among
would-be candidates, there was fear and loathing of “the permanent and
negative campaign.”..Americans Elect says it will announce its next steps on Thursday. But,
really, the group already delivered on what it set out to do. The lack
of takers suggests the political system is farther gone than the
reformers realized.

5 comments:

For many of the potential candidates listed, particularly those who hold or held office, they still have too much vested interest in their parties to jeopardize to risk the low probability of a third party candidate. Why risk the strong networks and connections they've built on a long shot to commit career suicide?

A third party called Americans Elect? Is this a joke? Any organization that would include clowns like Trump, Santorum and Palin on a list of what they consider viable third party candidates deserves all the ridicule that can be heaped on them.

Then again, this is from a column by Dana Milbank, one of the premier clowns of punditry.

As a non-American, so perhaps not qualified to enter the vitriolic debates that Americans have about their candidates, I don't see why these candidates clowniness reflects on Americans Elect any more badly than it reflected on the official parties where they are senior politcians who ran to be the presidential candidates.

I think, however, that the post's point is more interesting than a 2012-centric party political issue. It's a reminder of the particular limitations of the American implementation of democracy. In the UK we have three 'serious' parties. The third one was long considered to have no chance at all, but people still voted for it, and it's currently in the coalition government.

On a tangential note, I often wonder what system of government will come after democracy. Something else will come, that is the nature of history; I wish I had some insight into what.

"Tai-wiki-widbee" is an eclectic mix of trivialities, ephemera, curiosities, and exotica with a smattering of current events, social commentary, science, history, English language and literature, videos, and humor. We try to be the cyberequivalent of a Victorian cabinet of curiosities.

The 2008 Weblog Awards

Category: Best New Blog

Translate

Search TYWKIWDBI

About Me

I'm using an old photo of my grandfather as an avatar; he would have been amused.
Old friends, classmates, students, former colleagues, or distant relatives are welcome to email me via retag4726 (at) mypacks.net